Remembering The Past
by karmuh29
Summary: It has been eleven years since the gang has moved out of the caves. Every year for the anniversary their families get together to reminisce the past. Who will attend the gathering? What crazy stories will they tell?
1. Chapter 1

**(Disclaimer: All these wonderful characters belong to the magnificent Stephenie Meyer! =).**

**(A/N: So I was getting a little bored with my other story ["White Wedding"] and decided to start a new one. I will continue that one too, don't worry hehe. I took a little different approach to telling the story and it will definitely get better in later chapters [that is if people even want me to write more chapters hehe.] Enjoy!! =).**

**Chapter One**

It is approximately 10:05 on Thursday morning and I am in my bathroom brushing my teeth when I hear my daughter from somewhere downstairs.

"Mom! Where are the keys to the car? I am going to be late!" Serena yelled. Her voice was loud and demanding.

I take the toothbrush out of my mouth and spit the toothpaste into the sink, turning on the knob to let the water wash it away. I look up into the mirror to see my freshly washed face looking back at me. Things have changed so much over the past couple of years; I look so different. For one thing I look older, much older. It seems like just yesterday I was put into this body. I sigh, and turn my face from side to side, taking note of all the differences. I tuck a stray hair behind my ear, and slide my hand down my soft cheek. I stop when I reach my chin.

"Mom!" I jump and turn to the look at the doorway where Serena is standing with her hand on her hip, tapping her foot. She has long brown hair, dangling past her shoulders and her bangs cover part of her left eye. Her red purse is hanging on her right shoulder while her cell phone is in her hand, open. "I am supposed to be there in fifteen minutes! Everyone is already wondering where I am!" She screams, staring at the screen on her cell phone. She looks up at me, clearly annoyed.

"Serena, I already told you the keys are in my purse," I reply calmly, as I grab my hairbrush off the counter. "But if you give me any more attitude you are staying home."

She wasn't paying attention to what I was saying, however, as she was too absorbed into whatever she was reading off her phone. "No way!" She starts to punch a bunch of the keys fast.

I set my hairbrush back onto the counter. "Serena, did you even hear what I said?"

"Yeah, I can't drive unless I am accompanied by an adult," She says, still pushing keys on her phone. How she was able to focus on both conversations at once was beyond me. Talented kids these days. "So are you going with me, or is dad?" She looks at me for this last part, closing her phone and putting it into her pocket.

*Rrrriiinnnnngggg* *Rrrriiiinnnnggggggg*

I start to walk out of the bathroom. "I think your dad is taking you when he gets home, but you should double check with him," I say over my shoulder. I reach to grab the phone off of the night stand as I sit down on my bed. After living here for almost eleven years I am still not accustomed to having a bed that is the proper height. I was so used to a drop when I went to sit, now all I had to do was lean back and I was already there.

"O'Shea residence, Wanda speaking," I say into the phone in a friendly voice.

"Hey Wanda!" A loud female voice responds.

"Melanie! It's been a while since I've heard from you! How are you these days?" I scootback to get comfortable, leaning on my left arm. Serena takes this to mean it is going to be a long conversation and starts to leave the room.

"I'm doing fantastic! It's so good to hear your voice again. Listen I don't have much time to talk, Jamie has another game today. We are all going to watch him because it has been a while since we've seen a game in person. Did you know they are playing for the cup this year?" She sounded so excited.

"I did! Ian and Tyler have been watching all his games. And between me and you I think Ian is jealous that he didn't have the chance to go pro." We both laugh at this.

"Anyway, I just wanted to make sure we were still on for this weekend?" I hear her pacing back and forth.

"This weekend?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.

"Oh don't tell me you forgot! The anniversary!" I picture her shaking her hand at me.

"Oh! Goodness, how could I have forgotten that!"

"Eleven years on Saturday. Can you believe it?" Mel asks. I pause for a minute, I couldn't believe it. I am thankful everyday that I don't have to wake up in the dirty caves anymore. I honestly never thought I would ever get out of there, let alone to move into a beautiful two story house with the love of my life and our two kids.

A smile makes its way onto my face. "Wow. Eleven years. That is amazing," I say.

I hear a voice mumble something through the phone, "Yes, Kyle. I'll be there in a second." Melanie responds to the voice, who apparently was Kyle. "I better get going, but we will see each other on Saturday. Tell everyone I said 'Hi.'"

"I will. It was nice talking to you Melanie. Wish Jamie luck for me."

"Ok! Bye Wanda!"

"Bye Melanie." I set the phone back on the night stand and lift my body off the bed. I walk out of my bedroom and down the hall to the loft. Ian and Tyler are sitting on the couch staring at the television. Football is on, of course.

I make my way over to the couch and Tyler moves his body over to the end, making room for me, without saying a word. I take my spot between them.

"Did you talk to Serena?" I ask Ian.

He takes his focus away from the television for a second to look at me. "Yeah, she said she would just get a ride from her friend Kelsey." He turns his face back to the television. I stare at his profile. He looks the same as he always has: handsome. I move my eyes around his whole face, first looking at his short hair, then his faint goatee, finally looking at his lips. They are still as full and soft as always. Another smile creeps onto my face. He notices this and looks into my eyes, confused. "What?" He asks, smirking.

"I was just looking at how nice you look."

His cheeks start to turn a faint shade of pink as he replies, "You look gorgeous yourself."

Ian leans in to softly kiss my lips. We may be older now, but we still have our romantic side to us. We made a pact a while back to never lose our physical relationship, even after we have kids. I am so glad we did.

I take hold of his hand. "So Melanie called today. Did you know it is almost the eleventh anniversary of our moving out of the caves?"

His eyes went wide, "Really?"

"I know! We are having a party on Saturday to celebrate," I say excitedly. I have been looking forward to seeing the whole gang again. That is something I do miss about the caves, the friends I made. We all had our differences, but we all came together when it counted most. Those are the memories I will never forget.

"We don't have to listen to all the stories again do we?" He groaned.

"Of course we do Ian!" I say as I playfully shove him, "It is part of the tradition!"

Ian sighs. "Alright, but if I have to hear about the time when Kyle 'saved my life' again I am gonna scream."

I laugh. They do this every time we get together, tell embarrassing stores about the other one. It is actually pretty entertaining.

"It's not the same without Jodi," Tyler suddenly says from my left.

I look down at my hands. "Or Jared," Ian adds.

It's strange how quickly the mood in a room can change from excited to somber. One second you have a smile on your face and the next tears start to form in your eyes. This is exactly what happened. It's true, it wasn't the same without the two of them there. The truth was it hadn't been the same in quite some time. It had been three years since the whole group was together. We all missed them dearly, but there was nothing we could do to bring either of them back. Sometimes life just takes an unexpected turn of events. Some of which are good and some of which are bad.


	2. Chapter 2

**(A special thanks to those of you that reviewed my first chapter. I love you guys. =)**

**Chapter Two**

We continued to sit on the couch until the end of the game, about three hours later.

"Are you guys hungry? I was going to make some spaghetti for dinner," I say, rubbing my hands together and I pick myself up off of the couch.

"Sounds good," both Ian and Tyler say at the same time.

I make my way into the kitchen, passing the dining room and the pantry. I open a cupboard to take out a pot and take it over to the sink to fill it with water. The water is cold and I stand here for a minute, waiting patiently for it to warm up. I hear footsteps behind me and I turn around to see Ian. He sets a glass down on the counter and hops up to sit there. The water is warm now so I fill the pot three quarters of the way full and turn the faucet off. I take the pot over to the stove and turn it on high.

"So how did Melanie say she was doing?" Ian asks me. I could tell he had been wanting to ask this for a while, but was waiting for the right moment.

"She sounded like she was doing pretty good. I didn't get to really talk for that long, she was getting ready to go to Jamie's game." I open another cupboard to find the spaghetti and set it on the counter.

Ian has his legs dangling and one hits the side of the counter. "That's good...really good. What about Kyle?" His voice is more concerned as he asks this.

"I didn't talk to him this time." I open the fridge to get out some butter for the bread. "But I'm assuming he is doing just fine." I let the door shut on its own.

He jumps off the counter to go stir the water in the pot, which is now boiling. "Did Mel mention anything about Kasey?"

"No, but she sounded really busy. I'm sure everything is fine over there, Ian." I say with compassion in my voice. Ian had been really worried about them all since the accident. It happened a little over a year ago, but it never got any easier for any of us.

Ian continues to stir the water in the pot and opens the bag of spaghetti to pour some in. I smile. I had taught him well.

"When is it we are seeing them? Saturday? That gives us some time to get everything ready. I'll have to see if I can get tomorrow off." Ian works as a pediatrician and is always busy with patients. Sometimes I wish he would quit so we could spend more time together, but the money is good.

"Are you sure? I don't mind getting it all ready," I say as I finish buttering the bread.

He opens the oven door for me and I stick the pan in, setting it to broil. "I'm sure. The rest of the guys can keep up with the work for one more day." He had taken today off because he was not feeling well. The flu is going around and I hope that neither of the kids catch it.

Everything is ready now, except for the spaghetti. I take the knife I used to butter the bread to the sink to wash it. Ian comes up from behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. "Wanda, I love you," He says as he kisses my cheek. This makes me blush, I still have yet to overcome that little inconvenience.

"I love you too honey," I say as I turn around to face him. He keeps his hold on me and pulls me closer. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I am," Ian kisses me on the forehead then adds, "I'm actually kind of excited to see them all again."

"Me too!" I hear Tyler say from behind me. I turn my head to see him sitting on the counter. I give him a slightly confused look; he always hated having to stay home on the weekends. Tyler loved to hang out with him friends and skateboard. He even broke his arm a year ago because of it. I didn't want him to continue, but Ian objected saying that he should be able to stick to his hobby. He also added that it was good exercise for him. I understood the pros of it, but I am now always nervous when he goes outside. I do not want to see him get hurt again. "I want to hang out with Uncle Kyle. Last time he was here he taught me how to do a 360 kick flip," Tyler says excitedly.

"Where did he learn how to do that?" Ian asks, surprised that his brother could skateboard.

I giggle, "Is someone jealous?"

He raises his eyebrows at me just as we all hear the doorbell ring. We all look towards the front of the house to see who it could possibly be, even though there was more than one wall in the way. It's funny how people always do that. I take a quick peek at the stove, where the water is boiling again. "Honey, could you get the door?" I ask Ian.

"Sure," he answers with a smile. I turn my attention back to the spaghetti and I pick up a fork. I cut a piece of the spaghetti in half to see if it is soft enough. The spaghetti easily cuts in two so I decide it is ready. I go to the cupboard to pull out the drainer and set it in the sink. I go back to the stove where I pick up the pot of spaghetti and take it back to the sink to pour out the water. The steam rises as I pour the spaghetti out. I ask Tyler to take the bread out of the oven and he agrees.

"Yeah, we have been doing great," I hear Ian's voice getting closer. "Wanda is just inside the kitchen cooking dinner." I turn just in time to see Ian enter the kitchen with Melanie.

"Melanie!" I jump up and run over to where she is standing. I wrap my arms around her body and pull her into a bear hug.

"Wanda! Oh it's so good to see you!" She says as she wraps her arms around me. We stay like this for a minute, both of us with huge smiles on our faces.

"I thought you weren't coming till Saturday?" Ian asks politely. He is leaning against a could in the living room with his feet crossed.

I still have my arms around Melanie as I turn our bodies so I can face him. "Ian! Who cares! I am so happy that you came early Mel!" I say excitedly.

Ian puts his hands up defensively, "I'm glad she is here too, don't get me wrong. I just thought we would have more time to get things ready." He chuckles, "Where is the rest of the gang?"

I finally loosen my grip on Melanie and she does the same. We hold each other at arms length to get a better look. It really does feel great to see her wonderful face again. It had been too long since we had last seen each other face to face. She looks really good too, having the same skinny, athletic body as always. Her hair is long and curly, complimenting the gorgeous blue blouse and dark blue jeans she has on.

"Yeah, is Kyle here?" Tyler pipes up. Ian shoots him a look so he adds, "So we can all play football...or something?"

This wasn't the exact answer Ian had been looking for, but he was satisfied. I can tell that is a little jealous that his son likes his uncle so much. He wants to be the only one that Tyler looks up to. Old brother rivalry I'm guessing.

"Kyle is actually still at the stadium waiting for Jamie. We won, 4-2, but I'll let him tell you all about that himself." She smiles. I can tell she is just as excited as I am that she is here.

"And Kasey?" I ask, my hand still in hers.

"She wanted to stay with her dad. She is still a little nervous to leave his side, but I think that's normal. After everything that happened, anyway," Mel says, her voice a little shaky.

I pat her hand, "Are you hungry? I just made some spaghetti. We should probably eat before it gets cold."

We all start to make our way into the kitchen. When I arrive I pick up four plates from inside a cupboard and set them on the counter.

**[A/N: It was actually me who couldn't wait till Saturday for them all to come over. So I decided to make them come over earlier. Haha. So, I already know what happened to Jodi, but does anyone have any ideas about what should have happened to Jared? I have a couple theories, but I'm not sure if I like them or not. Don't forget to tell me what you think – all reviews are appreciated. =D]**


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